PORTSMOUTH — In his first season as the head coach at Shawnee State, Michael Hunter — along with his staff — helped supply the first 20-win season for the men’s basketball program since the national championship-winning campaign of 2020-21, and lifted the Bears to their fourth NAIA National Tournament berth in the last five seasons.

Indeed, the environment in ‘The Cave’ remains alive and well — and primed for a big future ahead.

DTP

Despite returning just Tre Beard and Feisal Crumby Jr. from a roster that went 17-13 during the 2022-23 season, Shawnee State improved on its record behind Hunter’s DTP — Dominate The Paint — philosophy.

In 18 of its 31 games, Shawnee State outscored its opposition in points in the paint, and in 17 of its 31 games, Shawnee State held a positive rebounding advantage over its opponent.

Not bad for a program that lost each of its top six scorers, and 11 out of its top 12 scoring hands from the 2022-23 season, as well as its top eight rebounding threats.

Offensively, graduating senior Keith Germain enjoyed a strong year inside — posting 14.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per outing for the Bears en route to closing out his college career with 1,065 points, 536 rebounds and 119 blocks.

Germain was named as a first-team all-River States Conference honoree.

Rebounding, as a whole, proved to be a collective effort — as Germain and fellow talents Chaze Harris and Tyreke Johnson each averaged over 5.5 rebounds per contest while five other individuals — Beard, Tony Webb, A.J. Belton, John Dawson and J.R. Lumsden — each averaged over two rebounds per contest.

The Mayor leads markmanship

from SSU on perimeter

In terms of the perimeter game, Shawnee State proved to be money throughout the year.

The Bears, who finished first in the River States Conference in three-point field goal percentage (39.8) and second in the RSC in field goal percentage (50.1), finished fifth in the NAIA in the former category — and tied for 15th overall in the latter category.

In all, a total of 12 out of the 13 players on Shawnee State’s roster shot above 40-percent for the season from the field, with four of those shooting at least 37.8-percent or better from three-point range.

Of those four players, three of them — Beard, Dawson and Elkin Ramirez — each shot better than 39.5 percent from long distance.

Beard, who earned third-team all-conference honors, shot the basketball at a truly elite level inside — from mid-range and from well beyond the three-point arc.

Clearly establishing himself as one of the greatest shooters in school history, the Chillicothe native put together a terrific year by finishing fourth nationally in three-point field goal percentage (50.3) and sixth nationally in free-throw percentage (90.3), tying a program record for single-season free-throw percentage in the process.

Beard made all of his free throw attempts in 15 out of Shawnee State’s 31 contests.

In accomplishing the above feats, Beard became the only player in the NAIA to shoot above 48-percent from the field, 50-percent from three-point range and 90-percent from the free throw line for the 2023-24 season.

He scored in double figures in 10 out of his last 11 games, scored 20 or more points in five contests — including three out of Shawnee State’s last five affairs where Beard ultimately posted his new career-high of 32 points against Ohio Christian — and scored 26 points in Shawnee State’s NAIA Opening Round victory over Roosevelt (Ill.) 92-77, a game where Beard went 7-of-13 from the field, 6-of-8 from three-point range and 6-of-6 from the free throw line.

As a result, Beard became the first player in program history to win national tournament games across two seasons.

He is part of each of the first six NAIA Tournament wins in program history, and is the first player in program history on four winning teams in a row.

Harris, Johnson

provide slashing abilities

As key components to Shawnee State’s success during the 2023-24 season, SSU wings Harris and Johnson were each critical to the Bears throughout the season.

Harris — who averaged 19.4 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.5 assists as a second semester eligible transfer — led Shawnee State in six different stat categories.

Harris started off the season with a bang, producing a 33-point outing in his debut in a Shawnee State uniform against Ohio Christian on Dec. 16, then produced five games where he scored over 20 points in a six-game stretch from Jan. 4 to Jan. 22.

Harris ultimately scored in double figures in 18 out of his 19 affairs, and shot 57.1 percent from the field as well — en route to first-team all-RSC honors.

Johnson, who was a third-ream all-RSC honoree, was one of four players to play in each of Shawnee State’s 31 contests alongside Germain and Lumsden.

Johnson was solid in every facet, averaging 15 points on 46-percent shooting from the field — and a 37.2-percent clip from three-point range.

The junior also averaged 6.2 rebounds, three assists and 1.1 steals per outing — placing second on the SSU roster in every category including points per contest.

4 honored with academic awards

Inside the classroom, Beard was named as a Scholar-Athlete — as was Johnson, Lumsden and Ramirez.

The same quartet were also honored as College Sports Communicators’ Academic All-District selections, while Beard was also named as an NAIA Scholar-Athlete this past season.

Additional

In addition to Beard, Belton, Crumby, Ramirez, Damon Charles and Kenny Sanderlin, the men’s basketball program at Shawnee State has 10 players coming in for its 2024 recruiting class.

Dawson will also be returning to the program as he slides into an assistant coaching role, while Chandler Fointno will be back for his second season with the program.

Brent Gaither, who served as an assistant on the staff, departed for a new opportunity in late April — after teaming up with Fointno to provide excellent backcourt shooting and production as the two assistants proved to be key in those areas.

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